By Cain                                                S.B. No. 876
       74R6676 JD-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the authority of a municipality to  implement a
    1-3  photographic preferential traffic lane enforcement system;
    1-4  providing for imposition of a civil penalty.
    1-5        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-6        SECTION 1.  DEFINITIONS.  In this Act:
    1-7              (1)  "Photographic preferential traffic lane
    1-8  enforcement system" means a system that:
    1-9                    (A)  consists of a photographic camera and
   1-10  vehicle sensor; and
   1-11                    (B)  automatically produces one or more
   1-12  photographs of a vehicle using a preferential traffic lane.
   1-13              (2)  "Preferential traffic lane" means a traffic lane
   1-14  on a street or highway where motor vehicle usage is limited to
   1-15  buses, vehicles occupied by a minimum number of persons, or car
   1-16  pool vehicles.
   1-17        SECTION 2.  PHOTOGRAPHIC PREFERENTIAL TRAFFIC LANE
   1-18  ENFORCEMENT SYSTEM.  (a)  A municipality by ordinance may implement
   1-19  a photographic preferential traffic lane enforcement system and
   1-20  provide that the owner of a motor vehicle is liable for a civil
   1-21  penalty if the vehicle is operated in violation of a limitation
   1-22  imposed on the usage of a preferential traffic lane.
   1-23        (b)  Sections 2-8, except Sections 5(4) and 5(5), Article
   1-24  6701d-24, Revised Statutes, apply to an ordinance adopted under
    2-1  this Act as if a violation described in Subsection (a) of this
    2-2  section were a violation of a municipal ordinance relating to the
    2-3  parking or stopping of vehicles under Section 1 of that article.
    2-4        (c)  An ordinance adopted under this Act may provide that a
    2-5  photograph taken by a photographic preferential traffic lane
    2-6  enforcement system is admissible in an administrative adjudication
    2-7  hearing and is evidence sufficient to support a finding that the
    2-8  vehicle identified by the photograph was operated in violation of
    2-9  the limitation imposed on the usage of the preferential traffic
   2-10  lane.
   2-11        SECTION 3.  IMPLEMENTATION OF SYSTEM.  A municipality that
   2-12  implements a photographic preferential traffic lane enforcement
   2-13  system under this Act may:
   2-14              (1)  install and operate the system; or
   2-15              (2)  contract for the installation or operation of the
   2-16  system.
   2-17        SECTION 4.  EFFECTIVE DATE.  This Act takes effect September
   2-18  1, 1995.
   2-19        SECTION 5.  EMERGENCY.  The importance of this legislation
   2-20  and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-21  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.